Which statement best describes ground rod placement?

• A. Placed only at corners
• B. Placed only at the cable entry point
• C. Placed at every corner and at least every 10-15 ft, and near the cable entry point and at every tower leg
• D. Placed only at tower legs

Answer: (C)

Grounding effectiveness comes from building a distributed, low-impedance network that ties all parts of the site to earth. Placing ground rods at every corner and at regular intervals along the perimeter (roughly every 10–15 feet) creates multiple paths to earth, which lowers overall ground resistance and keeps potentials more uniform across the site. Adding a ground rod near the cable entry point ensures the feeder and shield share the same ground reference, reducing potential differences along the cables. Bonding a rod at every tower leg ensures the structure itself is directly connected to the grounding network, providing a solid path for lightning and fault currents and protecting equipment and personnel.

This approach is better than concentrating rods only in one area or on a single component because it creates a comprehensive, interconnected ground plane. Fewer, isolated ground points can leave high-resistance paths and uneven potentials, increasing the risk of equipment damage or shock hazards.